


Just Breathe (But Why Is It So Hard?)

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Panic Attacks, Platonic Cuddling, pidge is a vent gremlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-07-29 19:49:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16271144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A training exercise with the mind-meld headbands and a trip down memory lane sends Keith into a panic attack.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I was not planning on writing this, I have several other fics that I am working on, but I really wanted to do something for Keith month/Whumptober, so this is my contribution. I hope you enjoy!  
> (Not proof-read, so sorry for the undoubtedly countless mistakes)

 

Keith kept absolutely still as the footsteps grew louder, trying to quite his desperate gasps of air. He drew his knees closer to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, forming a protective ball and serving to make himself smaller. He couldn’t let them find him, not like this, never like this, they couldn’t know, they would kick him off the team, leave him stranded on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere, leave him all alone again, he didn’t want to be alone again-

“Keith? Are you okay? Where are you? You kinda freaked everyone out when you ran off,” it was Pidge’s voice, growing louder and then softer as she went past his hiding spot in the closet, luckily not finding him.

_ Lies, every one of those words lies. They don’t care about you.  _ Keith tried to keep the traitorous thoughts from coming, but that was much easier said than done, especially when Keith didn’t know that the words weren’t true.

_ No, Shiro cares about you _ . Keith clung to that thought like a drowning man would cling to a raft. Shiro was different than everyone else Keith had had in his life since his father’s death. Shiro actually did care about him, not just pretend to, and Shiro had proven it time and time again.

Keith had to get to Shiro. Shiro had always known what to do when he freaked out like this. He could help.

_ He’s probably busy though. You would just be wasting his time. Besides, Shiro’s got his own problems to deal with, he doesn’t need your’s too. _

Shiro, kind, caring, Shiro had been through so much. For that year that Keith was alone on Earth, feeling bad for himself, Shiro was here in space, captured by an evil alien race, one which Keith apparently was a part of, tortured, forced to fight and kill, and now had a severe case of PTSD. Shiro definately had enough problems of his own without Keith’s to add on to that.

Which meant that Keith would have to get over this on his own. 

That was fine though, he had had to do this many times before, for all those years between his father’s death and meeting Shiro.

(It wasn’t fine and just because he had had to do it before didn’t mean he was any good at it)

Deep breathe in. Deep breathe out. That’s all he needed to do.

Breathe in- why was it so hard to breathe?

 

***

_ Earlier _

 

The morning had started out just as any other, Keith training hard until Shiro came down to drag him up to breakfast, courtesy of Hunk of course, Pidge rambling about her latest project, and Lance being annoying.

“Just shut up Lance.”

“ _ Shirooooo,  _ Keith’s being  _ mean _ .”

Shiro just rolled his eyes and took another bite. Lance pouted.

After that they had training. WIth the headset-thingys that connected everyone’s minds.

Keith really hated them. He didn’t like the idea of people digging around in his head, even if they were people who were slowly becoming like family to him. What a weird concept.

But he couldn’t just flat-out refuse. Allura would never let that slide. And he couldn’t just completely shut out the other paladins, Allura would not approve of that either. So Keith just did his best to block certain portions of his mind, mainly his childhood memories.

So of course today’s training was all about childhood memories. Just Keith’s luck.

“Today will allow all of you to gain a better grasp of what makes your fellow paladins  _ tick _ , as I believe your Earth saying goes,” Allura’s prim voice filled the training room as she stood in the observation deck. “Childhood plays an important part of making a person the way they are, and so I would like all of you to share a few memories from your childhood. We will begin with Shiro and then end with Keith.”

_ Crap _ . Keith really didn’t have many good memories from his childhood, what could he share?

He was dragged from his thoughts, however, when Shiro closed his eyes and began remembering. 

Images sprung to life before Keith’s eyes, causing them to alternate focusing on them and Hunk, who sat across from him, giving him a weird vertigo feeling. Quickly, he shut his eyes so that all he had to focus on was the memories. He would just wing it.

Shiro’s memories began with him as a small child, gazing in fascination at the cherry blossoms that seemed to rain from the trees as he held an older woman’s hand. His grandmother, Keith instinctively knew.

She was speaking in a tongue that Keith was familiar with, Shiro had helped teach him Japanese at the Garrison whenever they had free time, and Keith got pretty good at it, if he did say so himself.

Shiro’s grandmother was telling a story involving the cherry blossoms, but it soon became obvious that Shiro wasn’t listening.

Instead of getting mad though, she just laughed and let go of his hand. “Go play.”

Shiro barely gave her a curious glance before darting off, causing the old woman to laugh as he tried in vain to catch the cherry blossoms.

The next memories came much quicker. There was a young Shiro smiling at a dinner table surrounded by family. Shiro hugging a very disgruntled looking cat. Stargazing with a woman Keith recognized as Shiro’s mother. A funeral, a table with incense and pictures of Shiro’s grandmother the only indication of whose funeral it was.

“That will do,” Allura’s voice broke the flow of memories, and a tinge of emotions could be heard in her voice, “I am sorry for your loss.”

Shiro shrugged, though Keith could see a scheen in his eyes that betrayed his indifferent posture. “It was a long time ago. Besides, she’s in a better place now.”

There was a moment of silence. Allura cleared her throat.

“Very well. Pidge, if you would…”

Pidge closed her eyes and Keith followed suit.

The first memory had a young Pidge with long hair swatting away the hand coming to ruffle her hair that belong to someone who could be Pidge’s twin.  _ Matt _ the name came to Keith’s mind. That must be Pidge’s brother.

“Ow, what was that for?” Matt pouted, clutching his hand to his chest. Pidge stuck her tongue out at him before resuming her work on some papers scattered across the table.

“You were being annoying?”

Matt gasped as if offended. “Me? Annoying? Oh, my dear Katie, my youngest and dearest sister, never have I ever been so upset in my entire life!”

“Good.”

Pidge frowned at the paper, making a little mark. Matt glanced over her shoulder to better see what she was doing.

“Ooh, calculus, my favorite. But aren’t you like 5? Why are you doing calculus?”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “First of all, I’m 8. And I’m doing it because I was bored.”

“My bad.” Matt squinted at Pidge’s writing. “Also, you forgot to carry the 3 here.”

“That’s what I was missing! I knew something looked wrong!”

“You’re welcome.”

Then, just as Shiro’s had, Pidge’s memories became shorter. Her laughing with her family around a dinner table. Pidge opening the door only to have an excited dog jump up and neary push her over, making her laugh. Pidge’s family grinning at her as Matt loudly whooped and cried “That’s my sister!” when she easily won a math contest with competitors nearly twice her age. Matt ruffling her hair and handing her his glasses before leaving. That dreadful “pilot error” broadcast that was a final straw for Keith at the Garrison-

“Sorry, I sort of drifted past childhood.” Pidge’s voice halted the memories. Keith opened his eyes and realized he had stopped breathing. Taking in a deep breath as quietly as he could, Keith focused on his breathing. There was no reason to panic here.

In. Out. In. Out.

He steadied it before anyone could notice.

“It’s quite alright. Once you begin your memories, they are rather hard to stop,” Allura reassured Pidge. Wait. That was not good news. What did she mean that they are hard to stop? Keith had to be able to stop them, he couldn’t let them know, or see, or-

He had to stop panicking before the other’s felt it. In. Out. In. Out. He rubbed his thumb over his knuckles in time with his breathing, serving to calm him further.

“Hunk, would you like to begin?”

“Sure,” Hunk said a little nervously, and then he closed his eyes, Keith following suit.

A young Hunk with a familiar bandana was sitting at a kitchen counter, a pleasant aroma filling the room. He was watching his mother bussel around the kitchen, preparing all kinds of food, several dishes lining the counter already. When Hunk reached towards a plate with some sort of dessert on it, his mother swatted his hand back with a hand towel.

“Oh no you don’t. You have to wait until your cousins get here,” his mother chastised Hunk.

“I’m just making sure that it tastes good!”

Hunk’s mother snorted. “While your intentions are very nice, I’ve already taste tested everything. I  _ know _ my cooking tastes good.”

Hunk looked betrayed. “You already tried all of this? And I can’t have any?”

“Yep. When you become a chef, then you can taste-test all your food too.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Now help me by setting out the plates and silverware, then maybe I’ll let you try a cookie.”

Hunk hurriedly hopped down from his stool and went over to the table with plates and silverware.

That memory faded, and shorter ones followed. Hunk with his father in the garage, working on a vehicle with oil staining their clothes. Hunk playing with his younger cousins, giving them piggyback rides, playing tag, teaching them the stars as they stargazed, hugging them when they fell and scraped their knees. Hunk’s whole extended family eating and talking and laughing together-

“I believe that that will do.” Allura’s voice halted the memories. “Lance, if you would.”

Lance nodded, and then his eyes were closed. Keith closed his own as the memories began.

A young Lance was laying at underneath the stars on a beach, the sound of the waves and smell of salt filling the air. Next to him was what had to be his older sister. He gasped and pointed as he saw a shooting star.

“Did you see that?” Lance asked his sister excitedly.

“Sure did. It was a shooting star, make a wish.”

“I wish-” Lance began before his sister cut him off by slapping her hand to cover his mouth.

“Not aloud silly! You can’t tell anyone your wish, or else it won’t come true.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And I’ll have you know I’m an expert at making wishes come true.”

“You are?”

“Sure am. I remember, back when I was much younger, younger than you even, I was lying on this very beach with Mama, and I saw a shooting star, and she told me to make a wish. I wished for a little brother, and look, you’re here!” Lance’s sister poked him in the side, causing him to giggle.

“How do you make a wish then?”

“Close your eyes,” Lance’s sister began, and Lance followed her instruction. A mischievous smile crossed Lance’s sister’s face. She slowly sat up and shuffled closer to Lance carefully.

“Good, now- I tickle you!” She struck, causing Lance to shriek with laughter. 

“Stop! Stop!” Lance gasped out between his giggles.

His sister paused a moment, stroking her chin consideringly, and she opened her mouth to say something when another voice called out from a nearby house, open door spilling out light across the sand.

“Veronica, Lance, time to come in!”

Veronica took a glance at Lance, still catching his breath from the tickle attack, and sprang to her feet.

“Race you to the house!” With that, she took off.

“Hey, no fair!” Lance cried out as he sprang to his feet too late, and saw that his sister was already halfway to the house, there was no chance for him to catch up now.

A movement in the sky caught Lance’s attention again. It was another shooting star. Glancing from it to the retreating form of his sister, Lance made a wish.

“I wish that I can stay with my family forever,” he whispered. He stood there for a moment more before hearing his name being called again.

“Coming!” he yelled back, and he ran to the house.

Once again, after the first memory, Lance’s memories were shorter. Him playing with smaller children, his nieces and nephews, Keith believed. Lance cheering for his sister when she stared in a play. Lance swimming with his family in the ocean, ending with a water fight. Lance at a huge family gathering, a grin prominent on his face as he chattered to everyone, both in English and what Keith recognized as Spanish-

“Very good,” Allura’s voice interrupted the memories. “Keith, if you would?”

It was time. Keith hadn’t thought of any plan, and tried to calm his racing heart before the others felt it. His palms were sweaty in his fingerless gloves and he rubbed his knuckle nervously with his thumb. But he nodded his head.

Shiro seemed to notice his anxiety, and looked like he suddenly remembered that Keith’s childhood wasn’t the greatest. He looked like he was about to speak up, but Keith sent him his best  _ I’ve got this _ look, even though he didn’t feel that way. Shiro didn’t seem to buy it, but he didn’t say anything either.

“Of course, Princess,” Keith was relieved that his voice didn’t reveal how nervous he was. He shut his eyes, just as all the other’s had, and tried to think back to the happy memories he had had with his father. One sprung to life before his eyes.

It was one when he and his father had climbed up to the roof of their house to stargaze. Keith and his father often had stargazed, and these memories were some of Keith’s favorites. 

It was always cold at night in the desert, so they would bundle up in blankets, and Keith’s father would teach Keith the names of the stars. Or at least, what his father thought the names of the stars should be.

“That one there, I think that that one is definitely a George. What do you think?”

Keith hugged his stuffed Hippo to his chest and squinted at the star that his father was referring to. Keith frowned.

“I thought that one was Steve. George was over there,” Keith pointed to the left.

“You know what, you’re right! My bad. I’m just very silly, aren’t I?”

Keith giggled. “Very, very silly.”

Keith’s father heaved a dramatic sigh. “Oh dear, I’m already very, very silly? I was just very silly only yesterday! I’m becoming sillier by the minute!”

“Now you’re very, very, very silly,” Keith giggled as his father lay his hand against his forehead, pretending to be distraught.

“Oh no. I can feel the silliness taking over. I fear that I must- tickle,” the last words were spoken very dramatically, and Keith squealed and moved away as his father held out his arms like a zombie towards Keith.

“Tickle Hippo instead!” Sacrifices had to be made in situations like these afterall.

“No, won’t work. Must. Tickle. Little. Boys.” Each word was spoken slowly and separate in an imitation of zombie-talk. By the last word, Keith’s father had reached Keith, and started to tickle him.

Keith shrieked with laughter, causing his father to smile and laugh. Keith tried to bare it as long as he could, but then his sides were aching and he couldn’t breath, and he finally yielded. “Uncle! Uncle!” he cried, and the tickling finally stopped.

Keith’s father grinned at Keith, and Keith smiled back. His father opened his arms, and suddenly cold, Keith curled into them, fitting himself in his father’s lap and cuddling close to his chest, his arms holding Hippo close to his own chest. 

His father wrapped a blanket around them before holding Keith in his strong arms. Keith was suddenly made very sleepy by the warmth and from the tickling, and he fell asleep quickly, face pressed to his father’s chest.

Another memory rose to the surface and began playing without Keith intentionally choosing it, which worried Keith slightly. 

It was a happy memory though, of one of the times Keith and his father went exploring together, so Keith wasn’t to worried.

It was over quickly, and again another memory played without Keith choosing it. It was of the funeral of his father. Keith felt a lump in his throat as he remembered the feeling of being completely alone as he stood over his father’s grave.

...That wasn’t as ideal of a memory to show. But as long as the next memories weren’t what he feared then-

Another memory rose to the surface. Keith was running, he had to get away from whatever was chasing him, and when he looked over his shoulder, a red hand-mark could clearly be seen on his face--

No, he couldn’t show that one. Happy memories, remember. Keith forced the memory of eating ice cream with his father, but it was fuzzy, and easily replaced with one of him in the dark--

No, not that one. He tried to get the memory of him and his father eating ice cream back, but it was of no use, the darkness of the closet he was trapped in was too strong, the feeling of fear too strong. 

He was ten again, cramped in the closet in which he was locked in for two days for not cleaning up the mess his foster father had made when he came home drunk. Keith could feel his shoulder throb from when it had been forced into a wall, and the gash on his leg still stung, and Keith was sure that there was still glass-shards lodged in it--

No, he couldn’t let the other’s see this. He had to get to a different memory. He had to get out of this closet, but he was trapped, and hungry, and hurt…

No, he wasn’t actually there. He was in the Castleship, doing the training exercise with the headbands…

The headband!

It was a struggle to move his body, it felt so much like his shoulder was screaming in pain as he reached up to grab the headband, and he had to remind himself,  _ not real, not real _ .

He grabbed it, and ripped it off, feeling disoriented for a moment when suddenly he was in the brightly lit training room, not a dark closet. He had no real wounds. Not anymore at least.

Keith suddenly noticed that the other’s had opened their eyes as well, looking as disoriented as he had felt moments ago. Keith felt a little bad about forcing them out of his head like that, but they had already seen too much.

They had seen too much.

They were going to finally realize how weak he was, how afraid he gets, how he’s not actually worthy of being part of Voltron.  _ They’re going to kick me out _ . Keith nearly started hyperventilating at the thought.

“Keith,” Pidge said after she recovered her wits, look in her eyes sad as she spoke, and Keith knew that tone. He knew it from the social worker who had come to get him after his father died. He knew it from all the nicer families that had apologized before sending him off because “it wasn’t working out.” He knew that tone well. Pity.

They felt pity because they were going to kick him out of Voltron. The closest thing he’s gotten to a family since Shiro. And now even Shiro was going to kick him out. Just like all those other ‘families.’ Keith should have learned by now that families were only temporary.

Pidge opened her mouth to say more, and so did Hunk and Lance and Shiro, but Keith couldn’t bare to hear it. Not right now. Or preferably ever, really.

So he sprung to his feet and ran, ignoring the calls for him to come back.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith is panicking in a closet. (Someone help this poor child)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2! I wasn't planning on writing this so soon, but it appears that I would much rather write this than do homework (go figure). Anyways, any mistakes are on me, I didn't proof-read (what's new?), and I switched up the order of things a lot, so I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes.  
> Hope you enjoy!

There were what seemed like hundreds, maybe thousands of closets and storerooms in the castle, so Keith felt relatively calmer at the thought that the others probably wouldn’t bother to check every single one of them when he finally ducked into one in the hallway.

He hadn’t heard the others since he left the training deck, so Keith didn’t think they were following him.  _ They don’t know where you are. You are safe. _

Keith focused on this thought as he evened out his breathing, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so.

When a few minutes passed, or at least long enough for Keith’s breathing to even out somewhat, he still heard nothing. That should have been relieving, he didn’t want them to find him, not like this, but for some reason he felt his breaths quickening.

_ They aren’t even looking, _ he realized.  _ They aren’t looking because they don’t care about you. They see that you are weak. Once they do find you, all they are going to do is kick you off the team. They know that you aren’t worthy of being a paladin. _ Keith’s breaths became more sporadic with every word.

_ Stop, _ he tried to push back the thoughts.  _ Stop, stop, stop. Shiro isn’t like that. Stop. _

But what was the use of fighting against your own thoughts?

_ He’s got his own issues to deal with, he doesn’t need your’s too. Besides, you’ve never told him how scared you would always get, you never told him how  _ weak _ you really were. Now he knows though. And so do all the others. Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Allura- they all know that you never were fit to be a paladin. To be apart of the team. To be part of this family. _

Keith shut his eyes even tighter, trying in vain to stop the words from coming. His face suddenly felt damp, and when he raised his hand to his check, it came away wet.

_ Look at you. You’re so pathetic that you’re crying. I wonder how quickly they’ll kick you off once they see that you’re so weak that you started crying. _

Keith felt more tears stream down his face at this, leaking out of his closed eyes, but he couldn’t do anything to stop them. He really was weak.

_ Not that you weren’t already weak. I mean, it was bad enough that you showed them  _ that _ memory, but then you ran off, and hide like a little baby would. In a closet no less. So creative. _

Wait, closet?

Keith’s eyes flew open, but it was dark enough that there wasn’t a difference. It was so dark, just like the closet he had seen again in his memories. It was much bigger though, so he tried to remind himself of that to keep his breathing calm, but then the darkness was pressing in from all sides, making it seem so small, too small, his back was flat against the wall and he didn’t have any room to move, and his shoulder ached and his leg stung and-

“Keith! Keith! Are you here? Where are you?” Lance’s voice had an emotion that Keith couldn’t place. Keith drew a shuddering breath and pulled his knees up to his chest, careful to not make any noise that Lance would be able to hear. He silently thanked whatever deity was out there for Lance reminding him that he wasn’t in  _ that _ closet, that he would never be back in that closet, but he also prayed that Lance would not find him.

Luckily or unluckily, it work, and Lance’s voice faded as he continued down the hall.

Keith closed his eyes again, shutting out the darkness of the closet and focused on his breathing. He hated being in a closet, but it was the safest place around at the moment, so he could deal. He just had to pretend it wasn’t a closet, which was much easier with his eyes closed.

Keith had just managed to calm his thoughts and convince himself that he wasn’t in  _ that _ closet anymore when a voice interrupted his concentration.

“Keith? Buddy? Where are you? Are you okay? I mean, you aren’t okay, I know that, but like, are you okay?” If Hunk said anything else, Keith didn’t hear.

_ You aren’t okay. You aren’t okay. You aren’t okay. _ Hunk’s words echoed in his ears, and Keith fought to keep his breaths silent. Had he been in a better state of mind, maybe he would have recognized the concern in Hunk’s voice, and that Hunk was just trying to make sure he was alright, but Keith wasn’t in a better state of mind right now.

Right now all Hunk’s words sounded like was that Keith wasn’t an okay person. Because those were the words that Hunk would use whenever Keith did something good that surprised Hunk. Like that time he helped clean the counter after dinner.

Hunk had squinted at him suspiciously when Keith had approached the counter with a rag in hand, far to used to Lance’s shennanigans to openly trust anyone offering to clean his kitchen. Regardless, Hunk had accepted the help, and when he was done, Hunk had nodded appreciatively.

“You know, you’re a pretty okay cleaner.”

Keith had just nodded to Hunk and took the rags to the machine that they used to clean their clothes that was somewhat like a washing machine and a dryer all at once.

The way Hunk had told him that he was okay had warmed something in Keith’s heart. He didn’t have much experience with compliments directed towards him, but the way that Hunk had said that had felt pretty nice.

_ You aren’t okay _ . He messed up. Keith messed up everything now. Just like he always did.

He always drove people away. His mother, the kids from school, all his foster families, everyone.

\--Except his father and Shiro. And look where being close to him got them. Dead, and tortured by aliens for a year.

Keith felt a lump swelling in his throat, and he buried his face in his knees as more tears began to flow. 

Why was he like this? What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he do anything right?

He thought it had been going so well, the team had begun to feel like a family to him. And now he had messed it all up, just like he’s always done.

Keith felt a sob begin to rise in his throat, escaping as a sharp gasp for air that was too loud.

More sobs followed, each one a sharp gasp that was too loud, too loud, they were going to find him and then kick him off the team, and the thought of that just made the sobs rise quicker.

“Keith?” Keith heard a voice call from a distance. Pidge. Quickly he focused on quieting his sobs and gasps for air, which wasn’t working very well, but he couldn’t let Pidge hear him, couldn’t let her find him…

Keith could hear her footsteps approaching and kept absolutely still as the footsteps grew louder, trying to quite his desperate gasps of air. He drew his knees closer to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, forming a protective ball and serving to make himself smaller. He couldn’t let them find him, not like this, never like this, they couldn’t know, they would kick him off the team, leave him stranded on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere, leave him all alone again, he didn’t want to be alone again-

“Keith? Are you okay? Where are you? You kinda freaked everyone out when you ran off,” it was Pidge’s voice, growing louder and then softer as she went past his hiding spot in the closet, luckily not finding him.

_ Lies, every one of those words lies. They don’t care about you.  _ Keith tried to keep the traitorous thoughts from coming, but that was much easier said than done, especially when Keith didn’t know that the words weren’t true.

_ No, Shiro cares about you _ . Keith clung to that thought like a drowning man would cling to a raft. Shiro was different than everyone else Keith had had in his life since his father’s death. Shiro actually did care about him, not just pretend to, and Shiro had proven it time and time again.

Keith had to get to Shiro. Shiro had always known what to do when he freaked out like this. He could help.

_ He’s probably busy though. You would just be wasting his time. Besides, Shiro’s got his own problems to deal with, he doesn’t need your’s too. _

Shiro, kind, caring, Shiro had been through so much. For that year that Keith was alone on Earth, feeling bad for himself, Shiro was here in space, captured by an evil alien race, one which Keith apparently was a part of, tortured, forced to fight and kill, and now had a severe case of PTSD. Shiro definately had enough problems of his own without Keith’s to add on to that.

Which meant that Keith would have to get over this on his own. 

That was fine though, he had had to do this many times before, for all those years between his father’s death and meeting Shiro.

(It wasn’t fine and just because he had had to do it before didn’t mean he was any good at it)

Deep breathe in. Deep breathe out. That’s all he needed to do.

Breathe in- why was it so hard to breathe?

With Shiro it had always been so much easier. His calm voice, his warm presence, Keith wanted his brother.

But he couldn’t do that right now. Shiro didn’t need to have to deal with this. This was Keith’s problem to deal with now.

What had Shiro specific process always been? Keith needed to remember all of it, not just the breathing part.

_ Get to a safe place _ , was the first step, Keith remembered. He didn’t open his eyes, he didn’t need to be reminded of the darkness of the closet, and knew that this was the safest place he would get. Check.

_ Take a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. _ Keith sucked in his best imitation of a deep breath that he could manage, though in all honesty it was more of a gasp. Keith tried to let it out slowly, but discovered that it was a lot harder than it should be, it caught in his throat in a way that caused him to try and push it out, and ended up forcing all the air out at once.

_ Try again. Remember, _

_ Patience yields focus. _

Keith repeated this mantra over and over in his head as he focused on his breathing.

Slowly it started to calm. At least he wasn’t crying anymore.

As the panic his thoughts had thrown him into began to recede, Keith began to realize the full implications of what had just happened sink over him. 

First of all, he had just shown the other paladins a part of his past that he had never ever intended on sharing with anyone who wasn’t Shiro.

Second, he had run away from the paladins.

Third, he had just had one of the worst panic attacks of his life.

Keith pressed his face into his knees, feeling ashamed at the wetness that coated them.

If that memory hadn’t been enough to convince the others he was too weak to be a paladin, this panic attack definitely would. Even if he somehow managed to sneak past everyone to clean up, it was obvious that he had freaked out by the way he had run from the training deck.

Suddenly Keith felt very tired. He just wanted to sleep.

Leaning his head back against the wall and letting his legs stretch out, he decided that here was a nice place to take a nap.

Taking deep breaths, he was almost asleep when he heard the voice. At first it was so quiet that he nearly didn’t recognize it, but then as it got closer there was no mistaking Shiro’s voice.

“Keith, it’s okay. Please just come out if you’re hiding around here,” Shiro sounded so sad, almost like he was pleading. It made Keith’s heart clench.  _ He  _ had caused Shiro to sound like that.

Keith wanted to go out to Shiro, he wanted to so desperately, but before he could move, his thoughts started attacking again.

_ If you go out, they’ll kick you off the team.  _

Then Shiro’s voice spoke one more word, breaking on it. “Please.”

Without a second thought, Keith sprung out of the closet and buried his face in Shiro’s chest, arms wrapping around the older.

For a moment Shiro seemed startled, but almost immediately he wrapped his arms around Keith.

“Keith,” was all he said before Keith started crying again, Shiro sounded so emotional, so relieved,  _ for him. _

__

And by the tremors Keith could feel as he clung to Shiro, he wasn’t the only one crying.

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Keith gets some much needed comfort.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleepy cuddles, Shiro finally gets some sleep, so does Keith, and Pidge too I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not as much comfort as I had expected in this chapter and a lot more confusion. Sorry about that. Anyways, a lot of Keith's thoughts are sort of random and contrasting, and don't have any logical patterns, so they're a little confusing. It could be blamed on poor writing skills, but I'm choosing to blame it on the fact that panic isn't logical.  
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Keith didn’t know how long they stood there in the hallway, in fact, he had no idea how long it had been since the training incident, all he knew was that he was tired.

So tired that he nearly fell asleep right then and there, in the hallway leaning up against Shiro. Noticing this, Shiro gave a wet chuckle.

“Tired?”

Keith could barely summon the energy to nod. “Exhausted.”

“Well, it has been about a day since we saw you last and I’m assuming you didn’t sleep during that time.” 

Keith blinked, surprised. It had been over a day? How…

Well, it did explain the stiffness in his limbs and the ache in his stomach.

Shiro shook his head. “We can talk about it later. Right now you should get some sleep.”

At the mention of sleep, Keith yawned, which caused Shiro to yawn as well. Then, with Shiro’s arm around his shoulders and Keith’s across Shiro’s back, they made their way to Keith’s room.

By the time they got there, Keith could barely keep his eyes open as Shiro helped him over to his bed. 

“Sleep well, Keith,” Shiro said softly before turning to leave.

A thought raced across Keith’s mind.  _ If he leaves, he won’t come back. _

Before Keith had even processed this thought, his hand was darting out to catch the hem of Shiro’s shirt, causing him to pause.

“Don’t leave. Stay.” Keith said the words, and then his face burned as he realized what he had just done. He quickly retracted his hand, and refused to look at Shiro.

“Sorry,” Keith muttered, feeling embarrassed.  “You can go if you want.”

Keith expected to hear Shiro’s footsteps making there way to the door, but to his surprise, he instead felt the bed sink next to him. He felt a familiar hand on his shoulder.

“Keith, look at me,” Shiro prompted, and Keith looked at Shiro through his bangs. Shiro smiled at him. “I’ll stay if you want me to.”

“Could you?” Keith hated the way that the words burst from his lips, so eagar. He was about to take them back, but Shiro was alreadying nodding and speaking.

“Of course. Can I just text the others to tell them that I found you?” Keith felt his face burn again, and he realized his little panic attack must have wasted so much of their time.

“Yeah,” Keith said softly, already fearing the reactions the others were going to have when they saw him. “Go ahead.”

Shiro pulled out one of the Altean tablets, one of the ones that Pidge upgraded, of course, and tapped out a quick message. Almost immediately the tablet buzzed and Shiro frowned. His eyes flickered over to Keith, and then returned to the tablet and he typed out one last thing before putting it aside and turning to Keith.

“Get some sleep, Keith,” Shiro gave Keith a small smile as he spoke before yawning, which caused Keith to yawn too.

All of a sudden Keith could see just how tired Shiro looked, the normal circles under Shiro’s eyes even darker than usual, and everything about how he was allowing himself to slump screamed exhaustion. He probably hadn’t slept either.

This wouldn’t do, Keith decided. Reaching over, he tugged at Shiro’s sleeve in a way that very childlike, but Keith couldn’t really bring himself to care.

“You too,” he told Shiro, sleepiness slurring the words.

Shiro smiled at Keith in amusement. “You want me to sleep too?”

“Yes,” Keith affired.

Shiro’s smile turned fond, like he was remembering something. “Like old times?”

Keith could barely nod, his eyes drooping. Shiro unlaced his shoes and slid them off carefully before laying down, careful of Keith’s shoes that were still on. 

Keith had told Shiro once why he always slept with his shoes on, and Shiro had never told him to take them off afterwards. 

Once Shiro was situated, Keith let himself lay down next to Shiro, ready to pass out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Which was what happened. Within a moment, he was out like a light.

 

***

 

When Keith woke, it was to the sound of his pillow making an even  _ thump-thump _ . A moment later he realized his pillow was moving up and far to warm to be an actually pillow. What?

Then everything came flooding back to him. The training exercise, the unwanted memory, the panic attack, him asking Shiro to stay with him like a little kid. 

Keith shot up into a sitting position, scooching away from Shiro with his face burning. He pulled his legs up to his chest, suddenly cold without Shiro’s warmth.

Speaking of Shiro, it appeared he was starting to wake up. He cracked open a bleary eye and then the other, then blinking slowly to clear the sleep from his eyes. His eyes landed on Keith as Shiro pulled himself into a sitting position, legs crossed and back leaning against the wall.

“Keith?” Shiro asked, voice muddled by sleep, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Keith muttered, pulling his legs tighter to his chest, looking anywhere but towards Shiro. His eyes landed on the wall to across the room. Ah yes, that would do.

“You’re not,” Shiro’s voice was gentle, and Keith stared at the bare wall opposing his bed

even harder.

“I’m not going to force you to talk about it, but remember, I’m always here for you if you want to talk about it,” Shiro reached forward and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, but Keith still refused to look at Shiro.

Keith’s thoughts were at war with one another, one side arguing that Shiro meant those words, he had always meant those words before at the Garrison, and had already proved that time and time again. The other side rebuked those thoughts mercilessly.

_ That was then. Before all this stuff with the Galra and aliens. Now is different, and Shiro has his own problems to deal with. He doesn’t need to have to take care of someone as messed up as you too. _

When Keith didn’t respond, Shiro sighed sadly and began sliding himself towards the edge of the bed towards his boots. “I hear that Hunk made a delicious breakfast and you haven’t eaten in at least 32 hours, you must be starving. Would you like to come with me to go eat?” Shiro finished tying his laces as he spoke, turning to Keith once he had done so, the latter finally looking at the older. Keith only blinked in response.

Shiro sighed, obviously wishing that Keith had just said yes, but Keith knew he wouldn’t force Keith to do something if he didn’t want to.

“Well,” Shiro said, rising to his feet, “I’m going to go get breakfast, and I’ll bring you back some. Okay?”

Keith nodded, not really wanting Shiro to leave, but not wanting to appear any weaker than he already had, and Shiro left.

_ And he’s not coming back. Why would he _ . The thoughts invaded almost immediately, and Keith buried his face in his knees. The word weren’t true, they couldn’t be true, Shiro said he would be back--

_ Shiro also said he was going to come back after Kerberos. _ The thoughts argued back. Keith felt his breath begin to quicken.

No, he was not going to have a panic attack again. He refused to be that weak. He tried to focus on slowing his breath, but then a sudden voice startled him.

“Keith?”

Keith let out a shriek that he most definitely would deny making later, and fell off of the bed, heart racing. His eyes frantically darted around the room, searching for the source of the voice before landing on Pidge, standing at the foot of his bed looking concerned.

“Quiznak- Pidge? Where did you come from? How did you get in here?” Keith struggled to calm his racing heart.

“Vents,” was all Pidge supplied for Keith’s questions. As if that weren’t creepy as heck. She stepped forward and reached out a hand to help Keith up. “You okay? You looked like you were kind of freaking out for a moment there.”

“I’m fine,” Keith brushed off easily, more concerned with why Pidge had been in the vents. He asked, and Pidge’s concerned look turned somewhat shepish.

“I was worried about you. We all were.”

“So you decided to spy on me through the vents? That’s really creepy, Pidge.”

“Hey, to be fair, had you not started to freak out, I never would have come out and you would have never known.”

Keith blinked, pausing a moment to take that in before responding. “You say that like it should convince me that you weren’t being creepy. That’s even creepier than knowing you were there!”

Pidge just shrugged, and Keith was still weirded out by Pidge spying on him to summon anymore words. There was a moment of silence, before another question came to Keith.

“Wait, how long were you up there for?”

Pidge’s face darken with a blush, and she looked down at her socked feet. “Um, since Shiro told us he found you.”

Keith blinked. And then blinked again. That was when… “Wait, you were watching us as we slept? Do you realize how creepy this whole thing is?”

“No!” Pidge immediately protested, “I mean, I guess I did watch for a little bit to make such you were okay, but I slept too! I didn’t just spend the entire night being a creep!”

“That’s still creepy though!”

“Sorry,” Pidge did sound sorry, and it caught Keith off-guard for a moment. No one ever apologized to him, and if the did they were only empty words. Pidge continued,”I was just worried about you. And so are all the others.”

Pidge had said that before, but Keith was more preoccupied with her sudden appearance to take in what those words meant. Now though…

“Why?” 

Pidge blinked. “Why what?” she asked.

Keith frowned and paused a moment to think. What did Pidge mean? Were the others worried about Keith’s weakness rubbing off on them now that they knew about it? Were they worried about getting rid of Keith?

The questions hurt, but Keith was coming to terms with them. Sleeping next to Shiro had been nice, he was happy he had gotten to do that one last time before they kicked him out. 

Maybe they were worried about kicking him out. Maybe it would just be easier if he left.

“Do you guys want me to leave?” The words tumbled out of Keith’s mouth.

Pidge looked confused, “What do you mean?”

“So you don’t have to kick me out. Make it easier for everyone.”

Pidge’s face cleared of its confusion, sadness filling its place. 

“No! No, Keith, we don’t want you to leave. We would never kick you off Voltron. Why would you think that?” Pidge’s voice grew hesitant as she asked the question. 

Had Keith thought before he spoke, he definitely wouldn’t have spoken the words he did.

“Because now you’ve seen how weak I am,” the words were nearly a whisper, but Pidge heard them and darted forward, throwing her arms around Keith.

“No. No. No. Keith, you’re not weak. You’re the strongest person I know. You are not weak,” Pidge sounded almost like she was going to cry, which would not be good because Keith didn’t know how to deal with other people crying.

“Then why do I feel so weak?” Keith didn’t mean for Pidge to hear the whispered words, he didn’t really mean for them to be spoken in the first place. But Pidge heard them, if her tightened hug and tears were anything to go by.

All Keith could do was wrap his arms around Pidge awkwardly, and tried to tell her that it was okay. That was what you were supposed to do when people cried right?

Then why was it only making Pidge cry harder?

 

***

Keith was relieved when Shiro walked in carrying two bowls of food.

“Sorry it took so long, Hunk insisted on making it fresh-- Pidge?” Shiro looked very confused when he noticed the young girl. “Wh-” was all he got out before being interrupted by the green paladin.

Pidge finally released Keith from her embrace, and Keith hurriedly retracted his arms to let her free. “You,” she said, pointing at Shiro. “Tell this doofus we care about  _ him _ .” she jerked her thumb back to point at Keith. “Meanwhile, I’m going to fix this.”

With that she walked determinedly out the door, leaving Keith and Shiro staring at her back with varying degrees of confusion.

“What was that?” Shiro asked, staring at the empty spot where Pidge had exited.

Keith could only shrug in response. He had no idea of the answer to Shiro’s question either.

“Okay then,” Shiro said before turning to Keith and giving him a smile and offering a bowl to Keith. “Would you like some space soup for breakfast?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up (Maybe, I'm not very good at sticking to the plan): Pidge is determined (what's new?)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge gets Lance and Hunk on board, Shiro is the best big brother ever, and Pidge has a secrete project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. This was a pretty fun chapter to write, and I hope it makes sense (I never know, I only understand my writing like 1/2 the time). Any mistakes are likely due to me not proof-reading anything, and don't hesitate to tell me of them (Yesterday I had a typo on my other story pointed out to me so bad that it literally looked like I had had a seizure writing it. IDK how spell-check, my only editor, missed it).  
> Anyways, on with the chapter!

Pidge was a woman on a mission. As she strode through the halls towards the common room, her mind was racing as she formulated her plan. Her plan to show Keith that they cared. 

Her fist clenched and she felt hot tears come to her eyes again as Keith’s whispers echoed in her mind. How he thought that they would kick him out. How he thought he was weak. How he thought they would look down on him. How he couldn’t see how strong he was.

Pidge swiped the tears away with the back of her sleeve. She was going to fix this. 

The moment she swept into the common room, both Hunk and Lance jumped to their feet.

“Pidge! Where did you go? You, like, vanished after Shiro told us he found Keith.”

“Long story, doesn’t matter right now,” Pidge didn’t really want to go into the details of her trip into the vents to answer Lance’s question right now. She had a mission that needed to be completed, like, yesterday. 

“What does matter is Keith. We are throwing him a you’re the bestest-strongest-bravest person I know party. Tonight. Hunk, you’re on food. Lance, you’re on decorations.”

Normally, if she had proposed something like this Lance would never be on board. He would argue that they didn’t need to give Keith a bigger head than what he’s already got. Today wasn’t like that.

“He’s okay, right?” was all Lance said today, his words spoken in a small voice.

“Physically, yes,” Pidge knew that that wasn’t what Lance was referring to and she continued, “Mentally, not so much.”

“How bad?”

“He was panicking alone for a day in a closet. What do you think?”

Lance winced at the reminder. “Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

“No you don’t,” Pidge sighed. They needed to hear more of the story. “He thought that we were going to kick him out of Voltron. For being too weak.”

“What? But Keith’s, like, the strongest of all of us. Especially if most of his childhood was like that memory…” Hunk’s usually cheery demeanor turned dark, and he sounded like he wanted to punch something. It was weird to hear Hunk like that, but Pidge understood the feeling. She wanted to bust some heads after Keith’s memory, specifically of the people who had done that to him, all after the shear fear and pain wore off, of course.

“Panic isn’t logical.” Lance’s voice was unusually grave as well.

Silence fell for a moment after Lance’s statement.

“Anyways,” Lance started, breaking the silence, “What will you be doing as I decorate and Hunk cooks, Pigeon?”

“Something very important,” was all Pidge said, turning to go out the door. Before she left, however, she turned her head to look at them, “Well, get moving! We have a party to throw.”

With that, she headed to her lab, already plotting of what she would need.

***

 

They ate in mostly silence, which Keith was just fine with. It gave him time to think. Specifically, about Pidge’s final parting words.

_ Meanwhile, I’m going to fix this. _

Keith still wasn’t sure if he should be scared of not. It was Pidge, after all, so both reactions were valid. For a genius, some of her ideas could still go very,  _ very _ wrong. Keith shuddered as he remembered the whole robotic dog thing Pidge had built when she missed her own dog. Keith thought he had known fear when fighting the Galran, but that robo-monster had taught him otherwise.

Another perk of the silence was that Shiro didn’t bring up Pidge’s other parting words. 

_ You. Tell this doofus we care about him. _

Keith knew that Shiro would soon bring the matter up, most likely after their food had been finished off. Keith silently cursed his past self for eating so fast when the taste of food reminded his body he hadn’t eaten in too long. There was now only so much he could do to slow slurping down the last little bit of the soup. Shiro had already finished and had an unreadable expression on his face as he looked at Keith.

_ Screw it _ , Keith thought, abandoning his spoon and drinking the last bit straight out of the bowl.  _ Might as well just get this over with _ .

Once he had finished, Shiro wordlessly reached for his bowl and Keith handed it to him. Shiro stacked the two bowls neatly, and put them carefully on the floor next to the bed. When he sat back up, Keith mentally braced himself for the conversation that would undoubtedly follow. He was not disappointed when Shiro opened his mouth.

“Keith,” Shiro began, “You do know that we care about you, right?”

Keith suddenly found it hard to look Shiro in the eyes. “Yeah, I know. The red paladin-”

Shiro cut Keith off. “I’m not talking about the red paladin.”

Keith was taken back, and didn’t respond for a moment. “Then who-”

“You!” Shiro sudden exclamation startled Keith. Shiro continued, “We care about  _ you _ , Keith.”

Keith suddenly felt a lump rising in his throat. He said nothing as Shiro continued.

“We care about you as a person. You may be a stupid, brave, hotheaded, impulsive person, but that’s the person we care about. The person who is our friend. Our family. Our brother,” Shiro voice grew softer, “  _ My _ little brother.”

Keith had nothing to say. He felt the lump in his throat swelling, and he felt tears come to his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He’d already cried enough.

“You do, you do know that right?” Shiro asked after a moment of silence, his voice sounding very close to breaking.

_ Does he? Did Shiro really mean what he said? _

“You mean it?” Keith didn’t mean for the whisper to escape, and he hoped for a moment that Shiro hadn’t heard. 

Shiro’s face fell. No such luck, it appeared.

“Keith,” Shiro’s voice was soft and broken and Keith felt guilty for making it sound like that. “Of course I meant it. Every single word.”

Keith blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears from falling. Shiro seemed to see this, and he opened his arms. Keith scooted closer to Shiro, into his warm hug.

“We care about you, Keith. We love you.”

Keith finally let the tears fall as he hugged his brother. Shiro hugged back just as tightly.

 

***

 

Keith and Shiro remained there for a while, how long exactly, Keith had no idea. He hadn’t exactly had the best grasp of time for the last little while. 

Eventually, they had let go, and, at Shiro’s instance, they had both gone to freshen up. Keith felt much better after his shower, and as he entered his room he saw that Shiro was there with damp hair, two plates of food, and a smile on his face.

“It appears that Pidge has the kitchen and common room and her lab locked down until ‘something special’ later tonight, and has employed Lance and Hunk to guard. So it looks like it’s just you and me for now. Unless you want to go find the Alteans,” Shiro said, offering Keith one of the plates of food.

“Thanks,” Keith said, accepting the plate and sitting next to Shiro on his bed. “I’m good with it just being us.”

He would love it, in fact. If there was one thing he missed from the Garrison, it was hanging out with Shiro, whether it was while they were racing across the desert on hover bikes, sneaking out to the roof at night to stargaze, or training in the Garrison gym. 

Keith felt like he probably should be even more concerned about Pidge’s plotting if she had gotten  _ Lance _ on it, he remembered that Lance had been the one to convince her that making robo-dog would be a good idea after all, but he couldn’t bring himself to care all that much about it.

“Sounds good.”

With that they ate in a comfortable silence. Once they were both finished, Keith gave Shiro a smirk. Before Shiro could ask, Keith blurted out, “Race you to the training deck,” and then was gone, flying down the halls and silently laughing to himself of Shiro’s cries of “Not fair!” and a crashing noise that suggested that Shiro had tripped over something. Soon enough though, Keith heard Shiro’s pounding footsteps pounding after him, and Keith ran faster.

Out of breath and smiling, they soon made it through the doors of the training deck (Keith getting their first, of course).

After they both caught their breath, Shiro gave Keith a grin. “Like the Garrison?”

“Like the Garrison,” Keith confirmed, dropping down to pull off his boots, Shiro doing the same.

Soon enough, they were sparing in their socks, just as they had at the Garrison. The floor of the Castle’s training room was slippery under their socks, which made balance more difficult, but the additional challenge made it all the more fun.

(Keith laughed as Shiro fell once again after Keith dodged a kick instead of blocking it like Shiro expected, causing Shiro to slip.)

Keith didn’t know how long they spent in the training room, only that it was probably the happiest he’d felt in a long time.

 

***

 

“Aha, perfect! My design is complete. Now just to see if it works…” Pidge crossed her fingers as she hit the PLAY button, and soon images were rolling across the wall. “Yes!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next: Party-time!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a party, and everything is really sappy and cheesy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter of this story! This chapter is probably one of the cheesiest things I've ever written, I hope you all enjoy!

“Is everything ready in here- woah.” Pidge took a step back as she stepped into the common room. She had expected Lance to go all out with the decorations, that was how he was as a person, but this was a bit more than she had called for. She blinked, then said the only words that came to her mind. “That is a lot of red.”

Indeed it was. Everything from the walls to the floors to the couches were covered in some sort of cloth in varying shades of red. Pidge’s immediate reaction was that all that should clash horribly, but after taking a minute, she realized that somehow it didn’t. It actually looked pretty cool if she was being honest.

Lance, standing in the corner, rubbed the back of his neck looking sheepish. “Is it too much? Should I dial it back a bit?”

“No… no it actually looks strangely good. I like it, and more importantly, I think Keith will too. Where did you get all this?”

“I asked Coran to help.” 

Said Altean suddenly popped his head up from behind a corner, startling Pidge. “Back on Altea, whenever anyone threw a party, it was tradition to drape the room with sicho. The Castle still has rooms of it now. They are a little dusty, but nothing a good shaking couldn’t fix. It is good to see them being put to use again, I’ve quite missed it.”

Coran turned his head towards Lance, “Also, Number Three, I just finished setting the old yingyue up, as per your request. Would you like me to start it up?”

“What is an yingyue?” Pidge asked, curious, but also slightly scared. You never knew with Coran and Lance. One had a lack of knowledge what was and what was not dangerous to a human, and the other was Coran. Pidge still remembered how robo-dog had been Lance’s idea, and she shuddered at the memories of that monstrosity.

“Apparently it’s a machine that plays Altean music, like a stereo or a radio would back on Earth,” Lance told Pidge, before turning to Coran. “Hit it, Coran.”

Coran’s head disappeared for a moment and then there was music filling the room. Pidge didn’t really know how to describe the sound. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t like anything they had back on Earth. She liked it.

“Ah, this was a classic back in my youth,” Coran said, closing his eyes and bobbing his head along to the beat. Pidge could tell that he was a moment away from bursting into song, and she took that as her time to go. She had heard Coran sing before, and it was not something she was ready to experience again.

“It looks like you’ve got it all settled in here, I’m just going to go check on Hunk, and then it will be time to party!” With that, she quickly backed out of the room, ignoring Lance’s pleading eyes directed her way when he must have realized too that Coran was going to sign. She got the feeling that the door closed just in time.

She let out a sigh of relief, and then traveled down the hall to the Kitchen. To her surprise, Hunk wasn’t alone, though she quickly shook it off.

“Hey Hunk, hey Allura,” Pidge greeted as she walked in the room, taking in all the lovely smells. “It smells great Hunk.”

“Thanks Pidge.”

“Are you two about ready? Coran and Lance have finished decorating the lounge, so we’re ready whenever you are.”

“So that’s where Coran went off to. I wondered. He didn’t seem to be offended, did he?” Pidge was confused by Hunk’s question.

“Um, no? He seemed pretty happy. Why would you be worried he was offended?”

Allura hid a giggle behind her hand. “Hunk originally requested that Coran and I both to help him out to read the labels of things, to make sure there wasn’t anything in them toxic to humans, or Galrans, or Alteans, but you know how Coran gets in the kitchen.”

Pidge shuttered at the thought. She knew exactly how Coran gets in the kitchen, though she so desperately wished she didn’t. Even Allura had admitted that his food tasted terrible, though never to his face and she still would eat it as it was the closest thing to proper Altean food she could get. The only one who had no problems eating Coran’s food, besides Coran himself, and they weren’t actually sure how much he actually enjoyed his food, was Keith. Pidge swore that boy had no taste-buds. He could eat  _ anything _ with the same expression. It was unnatural.

“Where is his dish?” Pidge asked.

“Hunk disposed of it after he kicked Coran out of the kitchen.”

“It was so burnt and yet so under cooked at the same time…” Hunk muttered in a horrified tone that made both Pidge and Allura giggle.

“Anyways, what’s your status on the food?”

“Um, I just have to let one last thing finish cooking for a few more minutes, and then I’ll need some help carrying everything out to the lounge,” Hunk said, eyeing the counter that was nearly completely covered in food.

Pidge nodded, then turned to Allura. “You wanna help me start carrying some food to the lounge? We can bring back the boys to help too.”

“Of course,” Allura said, picking up two plates carefully. Pidge grabbed another one, she didn’t trust herself to carry one plate with only one hand.

Soon enough, they had everything ready in the lounge, food set up on tables while Altean music played from Coran’s machine. Everything was set and ready to go. Or almost everything at least.

“Wait, Pidge, what was it that you were doing all this time?” Lance suddenly asked. Pidge only sent him a grin. 

“You’ll find out soon enough, I’m going to go get Keith and Shiro.”

 

***

 

Keith didn’t know how long him and Shiro sparred for, only that by the end of it they were both out of breath and sweaty, but in a good way. Keith had just finished gulping down his second water-pouch when Shiro suggested that they both took showers. Keith had immediately agreed, and the moment that the warm water started to pour down on his already aching muscles, he never wanted to leave.

If course, that couldn’t ever happen, so he soon found himself slipping into his clothes and towling his hair dry. There was only so much he could do to get it dry, however, and he found himself stepping into his room with still-damp hair.

To his surprise, both Shiro and Pidge were in there, with Shiro grinning in a way that made Keith unsure if he should be excited or scared. He didn’t get a chance to ask, however, as the moment Pidge saw him, she sprang from her place sitting on his bed to grab onto his wrist. For a moment, Keith was overcome with a desperation to get free, feeling like he was being trapped, but he was able to fight the urge to punch Pidge by repeating a mantra of  _ It’s just Pidge, you’re safe, it’s just Pidge _ in his head. Luckily though, she let go right after she had dragged him out the door. 

“It’s about time you got here, we’ve been waiting for you.” Pidge began rambling, and her words immediately made Keith feel guilty for making them wait up, they didn’t sound mad or accusatory, so he fought the urge to apologize. 

“What have you two spent the day doing?” Pidge asked, catching Keith off-guard, so Shiro answered.

“Just hanging out. You know, just two brothers being brothers.” He said casually, but the words nearly stopped Pidge in her tracks.

“Wait, you two are brothers?” Pidge turned her head sharply to look between the two, eyes squinted as if to see any physical similarities.

“Not by blood,” Shiro admitted, before he seemed to realize something. “Wait, you didn’t know?”

“No! No one told me! You’d think that this would be something worth mentioning,” Pidge muttered the last part, and Keith fought back a smile, though he was just as confused as Shiro. 

“Wait, do any of the other’s know?” Shiro wondered aloud, before addressing Keith, “Have you told any of the others that we were brothers?”

Keith thought back, and had to shake his head no. He hadn’t.

“I guess we haven’t told you guys at all then.”

Pidge looked like she was going to say something more but then realized where they were- right outside the lounge. “We’ll talk about this later. Right now though, let’s get this party started!” With that she opened the door, and immediately a strange music filled the air along with various scents of delicious foods that made Keith’s mouth water.

Pidge entered first, Keith following infront of Shiro. As soon as Keith entered, the other’s called out to him.

“Keith! Nice to see you buddy!”

“Hello, Number Four!”

“Welcome, Keith!”

“Happy Birthday!”

“It’s not his birthday, Lance.”

“Don’t judge me, Hunk. I was caught off guard and it just seemed like the natural thing to yell, okay?”

Keith blinked as he took in his surroundings. There was a lot of red. And he didn’t hate it. It actually look nice. And the music was pretty good too, not anything like the music on Earth, which made Keith guess that it was Altean. And the food smelled delicious. He just had one question though.

“What is this?”

“It’s a party for you, Keith,” Shiro came up behind Keith and laid a familiar hand on his shoulder.

“Wait, what? Why?”

“Because we wanted to throw you a party to let you know that we care about you,” Pidge spoke first.

“And to let you know that you are the bravest and strongest Red Paladin that we could ever dream of,” Lance continued.

“And to help you see how much you mean to us,” Hunk added.

“To let you know that we support you,” Allura provided.

“And that we are there to help you if you ever need it Number Four,” Coran contributed.

“To remind you that you’re a part of our family now and we all love you,” Shiro finished.

Keith felt like he was going to cry. He knew he should say something though, and he managed a quite, “Thank you,” past the lump swelling in his throat. 

“Of course, buddy,” Lance said softly, before startling Keith enough that his tears went away as Lance let out a loud whoop and yelled, “Let’s get this party started!”

It was safe to say that it was the best party Keith had ever attended. Partially because it was just a great party in general, but also because it was the only party he had ever been to.

The food was delicious, the music was great, and they also played a few sort of get-to-know-you games, which felt a little silly at first considering they had all lived with each other for months now, but got a little less silly when they all realized how little they actually knew about each other.

(Pidge took these games as a reason to see if any of the others had known that Keith and Shiro were adoptive brothers, and sure enough, no one had known. Keith and Shiro had only been able to shrug in response to their questions.)

Just as the night was winding down, Pidge had said that she had one last surprise, and that she needed Shiro’s help to carry it up. They had vanished down the hall, and everyone sent each other curious glances. It seemed that this time it wasn’t just Keith in the dark about Pidge’s plans.

Soon enough, the two returned, Shiro carrying some sort of machine while Pidge followed him, a white piece of fabric in her arms. 

“Hunk, can you bring that table over here? Then Shiro, you can put that down on it, make sure the lense is facing that wall. Lance, Coran, since you two got all this fabric on the walls somehow already, could you put this fabric on that wall?” Pidge gave out the instruction, pointing in various directions, and soon everything was arranged to her satisfaction.

“Perfect. Now everyone, take a seat and enjoy the show.” With that, she dimmed the lights and pressed a button on her machine, which made a whirring noise before projecting a picture up onto the white fabric.

It was a picture of the foodfight all those months ago, the first time that they had all worked together as a team. There were huge smiles on everyone’s faces that indicated laughter, and Keith was struck for a moment with how happy they all looked.

Then the picture changed, and Keith realized that this was a slideshow. This picture was one that was of them after a long battle, slumped around the lounge, all clearly exhausted, as they tried and failed to stay awake during Allura’s debriefing. The only one who looked close to awake was Shiro, though even he was slumping into Keith. Lance and Pidge were both clearly conked out on either side of Hunk, and Hunk looked like he was about to pass out as well. Allura looked mildly exasperated, but she had a small smile on her face.

Then there was a picture of everyone at dinner, all smiling and laughing and talking. Then everyone on the bridge, again looking happy. Serval other similar pictures followed, with everyone looking happy together. Then it switched to a picture of just Keith and Shiro hugging. Then a picture of the time that Hunk had gotten so excited about how one of his recipes had turned out that he had hugged the nearest living thing, which had happened to be Keith. He had let go quickly and apologized, but Keith hadn’t been annoyed, and in the picture he was even smiling.

Then there was a picture of the time that Lance had thrown his arm across Keith’s shoulders, which at the time had shocked everyone that Keith hadn’t thrown Lance to the ground, but in the picture you could see a small smile on Keith’s face at the action. After that picture there was one of Pidge with her arms wrapped tightly around Keith’s waist. 

After that there was one last picture, one of their first group hug, in which it was evident that everyone was smiling. Then the screen faded to black, only for the words  _ Voltron: A family _ to appear in white print. Then everything faded to black again and Pidge hit the lights again.

“That was so cheesy Pidge,” Lance sniffled. “I loved it.”

Hearing Lance close to tears made Keith aware of the tears stinging his own eyes. Keith began to blink rapidly to keep them from falling.

“Where did you get the pictures?” Hunk asked in a tear-filled voice. 

“I used the Castle’s cameras. Just hacked into the recordings and took screenshots of for the pictures. Easy-peasy,” Pidge’s voice sounded as if she was trying to sound as if she wasn’t about to cry. 

“That was beautiful,” Coran choked out, not bothering to hide his tears.

“Indeed,” Allura whispered.

“Thank you, Pidge,” Shiro said honestly.

Everyone turned to Keith, and he in their gazes he found the strength to speak around the lump in his throat.

“Thank you. Thank all of you so much. This- this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Keith felt his eyes welling up with tears, and he ducked his head before whispering his last words. “Thank you.”

There was a moment of silence in which all that could be heard were quite sniffles before Lance broke it. 

“Alright, I declare a group hug. Everyone get over here.” With that, Keith found himself wrapped up one of the best hugs he had ever had in his life. It was a little damp and messy with everyone crying, but it was also warm and welcoming and for the first time in a long time Keith felt like he belonged somewhere. 

As he let himself relax into the hug, he closed his eyes and remembered Pidge’s final slide. 

_ Voltron: A family _ .

_ Huh,  _ Keith thought,  _ This is what it’s like to have a family. I like it. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That wraps this story up! I hope you all enjoyed, thank you for reading! And a special thanks to all those who have left a kudos and especially to all those who've left a comment, y'all are the best!  
> (I did spend a lot of time considering if I wanted to upload this chapter later on Keith's birthday if only for the irony reason of Hunk saying that it wasn't Keith's birthday, but I'm too impatient to wait *checks watch* 3 more days.)  
> Anyways, till next time,
> 
>  
> 
> -MasterOfMyDestiny

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! I honestly haven't a clue when I'll be able to get the next chapter up, I really shouldn't have even written this in the first place, school is crazy and end of term makes everything worse, and I should have done homework instead, but what's done is done.


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